Tuesday, 24 April 2012

By Ben Johnson

After
racing the London marathon last year and having a great race, I was
looking forward to returning this year. I really enjoyed the challenge
of building up to one big race but after finishing Uni last summer it
had been much harder to fit training in on my own whilst working long
hours at a new job down in London.

I'd done a couple of 10+
days in a row easily adding up to over 70 hours in some weeks but I'd
still stuck to getting the training in I wanted. On some days, this had
to involve going to the track at 8pm after work without eating since
lunchtime or fitting in a 20miler before going to work from 11am-9pm on a
sunday. this was far from Ideal but probablyhelped to make me a bit
mentally stronger!

I'd had some decent
training and races in November and December last year and I started the
year feeling pretty strong and full of confidence. the first few weeks
of the year were going well and I was determined to stick to my training
managing solid weeks of 65-70miles with some good sessions geared
towards the cross country. Unfortunately I had a setback in early
february where I strained my groin when out in the snow and found myself
in a lot of discomfort when running. I'd tried the odd run along with
various strengthening excersises but only managed a total of 60 miles
over the course of 3 weeks which was far from what I'd have liked.

I finally got back into
running pain free by the last week in February. This left around 8
weeks to get into shape for the marathon so I knew I couldn't afford any
more setbacks. I'd been selected to run the inter-counties Cross
country in early March and had really wanted a strong performance but
wasn't confident after just 2 weeks of pain free running. I managed 2
70+mile weeks before the Intercounties and managed to improve by a
handful of places on last year with a very slight improvement on my time
for the same course but still at this point was doubting I could
get fit enough for the marathon.

I decided to go for it
with my training for the next few weeks and I went to go to a friend of
mine, Charlie Sharpe for some extra advice. Charlie is a fully
qualified personal trainer who is making some amazing progress on the
Ultra running scene (check out his blog here... http://charlie-sharpe.blogspot.co.uk/

I wanted someone who understood runners and would
be able to give me some exercises to get stronger, reduce the chance
of a relapse of my injury and also some advice on how I could lose a bit
of weight safely in a short timespan. I built in a circuit of exercises on a couple of my easy days which helped me to build strength in all of my key muscles without leaving me too tired to train
and i managed the next three weeks of 82, 87 and 84miles. Some days of
training left me exhausted with the toughest days consisting of a 5mile
run at 6 in the morning before 9-10 hours at work followed by 13miles
in the evening (finishing at Marathon pace).

I stuck with a typical weeks training as follows, which was quite similar to how i'd trained last year...

Tuesday - 5miles am/ Track session Pm this would
be something like 8x800 at below 5kpace (75sec recovery), or a mixed
session like 1mile, 12x400, 1mile

Wednesday - relaxed 8-9miles (running home from work)

thursday - 5milesam/ 13miles including a good section of upto 8miles around marathon pace

friday rest/ some core exercises

Sat 5mile easy run to start, Parkrun (5km), 5mile easy home

Sunday - upto 22miles with a 2 or 3 mile section at marathon pace near the end

I
quickly started to gain strength and with 3 weeks to go to London I
started to feel like I could give the marathon a good go. I ran a 10k
at the start of my taper where I improved my pb to 33:07. the race was
tough,I set off at 3:12/km which was a little fast considring it
was just 5days after a tough 22mile training run and I was fading
towards the end of the race but I felt confident that I was in
better shape than last year.

I tapered down, reducing
my mileage to 75% 2weeks before, 50% 1week before then just about 25%
the week upto the marathon. Conditions on the day were just about
perfect so I knew I had no excuses for not running well.

Race Day...

I
set off feeling good and had to really hold back from running too quick
as the fantastic support from the crowds spurred me on. I knew the 3rd
mile was downhill so wasn't too worried that my first 5k came in a
little quick at 17:43 then 35:53 at 10km (which would have been a 10km
pb about 18months ago!). I passed through halfway in 1:16:15 feeling
fairly strong then I tried to push on from there. The quickest part of
my race came between 25 and 30km where I managed a 17:41 5k split and I
started to believe that sub 2:32 might be on the cards.

Unfortunately I had to
work much harder in the last 10k to keep a good pace going and felt like
I had a real battle to hang on. Despite slowing down a bit, I managed
to keep passing a good number of runners towards the finish. The noise
from the crowds all along the Embankment, past Big Ben and into The
Mall were incredible. I had a good battle with 2 other guys in the last
200m but I knew I didnt have much left. Still, I was made up that I’d
managed to improve by a couple of minutes on last year’s time to finish
in 2:33:43.

Whilst I might have run
better If I'd been more conservative with my pace, I have no regrets
that I didn't give it a good shot and Hopefully I'll have more time to
train and I'll be back next year for a crack at taking another chunk off
my time! I'm sure that 2:30 is possible with the right preparation.
Strangely, this year I don't feel as sore as last year so either i'm
getting used to it or I didn't try hard enough.

Well done to all the
other runners out on Sunday, In particular Paul who's hard work paid off
to smash his 3:15 target with a 3:12 for a good for age place as well
as Rob who it was great to see back in style with a 2:53 after his
long road back from injury!

Editors Note; these photos are from 2011 and Ben would like it known that he is now leaner and meaner than depicted here, hopefully I can update these photos soon! .

About
Ben.

I'm from Mere Brow, near southport but living down in London now
and working for 9 months at the aquatics centre for the olympics. I
started running for Southport Waterloo in July 2009 while I was working
on a placement in Liverpool. I'd done a couple of half marathons before
that as more of a funrunner but I've had some great support from a load
of the southport waterloo members since I joined them.

RicksRunning writes; Thanks once again for a great report Ben.

I look forward to seeing you 'BREAK-THROUGH' the 2.30 barrier in the near future!

Monday, 23 April 2012

CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION!

I returned to group training last week!

Mondays Brian's session in the pinewoods and Wed session with Rob at the Dunes leisure Center.
I've always had a strong belief that training in a group raises your level of fitness way above what training alone will do!

In a group your whole belief structure is changed, your perception of what is possible is changed!

You must have felt this at some time, your running alone and all of a sudden you see a runner ahead!
Your fatigue seems to vanish, your pace picks up as you chase the runner ahead.
Training alone you are trapped inside your own perception of what is possible!

The Kenyans always train in a group and for good reason!

An example of why group training is better!
Back in my cycle racing days all my best improvement came from training with friends or the club.
The best guys in the club were doing 22 mins in the local 10 mile time trials, so I found riders to help me in training, after 6 years I set a P.B. of 22.18 and won the local 10 mile event.
There was no way I could have achieved that on my own.

There was a very good article on how group training improved running biomechanics on Competitor.com.

On your own you think to much, is my leg turnover fast enough?
Is my stride long enough?
End result you tense up and lose speed!

In a group you just FLOW!

When I joined the running club here in Southport most of the runners on the regular Tue speed session could knock out a 34 min 10K.
After 6 years I achieved that, I thought is was possible because I trained with these guys!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Now I look at newer guys in the club and they are looking to break sub 40 for 10K or achieve the qualifying time for London when in the past runners would be shooting for a 34 or a sub 2.45 Marathon.
Now you can't blame the guys, their perseption is limited to what they see around them!

A final thought, THE GOLDEN AGE!

I remember Steve Jones setting the world Marathon Record with a blazing 1.01 first half!
I remember Steve Ovet, Seb Coe and Steve Cram winning gold, I remember Paula radcliffe beating all the british men at the London Marathon to set the New world record!

Guys it's time to reset you believe system, the impossible is possible!

Sunday, 22 April 2012

Well done all SWAC runners :0]

I'll try and get Ben to do a report in the near future, special well done to Paul who achieved his dream of qualifying for a 'Good For Age' place at next years London.
And Rob, well an amazing comeback after injury!

Heres a quick shout for some of the guys running tomorrow

BEN 2.35 under 23 Marathon Runner

He tells me he's in even better shape his year!
So could 2.30 be possible?

ROB 2.52 V45 Marathon Runner on the comeback trail

After finishing a superb 2nd in the Langdale Mountain Marathon in 2009.
Only a couple of weeks later Rob had a horrific accident when he fell and trapped his foot while working in his girl friends loft!
End result was Rob tore the cartridge in his knee as well as completely tearing one of his ligaments!.
After major surgery to rebuild the damaged knee Rob made an amazing comeback last year!
This year he has run a 1.22 half and a 36 min 10K!
It's great to see Rob back and I wish him the best at London.
Time 2.50?

Barefoot Paul 3.21 London Marathon Runner

After being coached by Steve Mclean this year Paul has set 4 P.B.s this year!
He's full of enthusiasm and his dream of qualifying for a good for age place looks on!
Time 3.10?

Thursday, 19 April 2012

1999 London Marathon 2.49

Just thought I'd reflect to my very first marathon.
This is a story to show that even if everything goes a bit wonky the day before the big race you can still come away with a good race.
I'd been running for about 6-7 years plus another 10 cycle racing before that, I think the bike racing gave some pretty good endurance, 135 mile club runs in the hills made 26.2 miles seem a short way, in my mind at least!
Leading up to the FLM I trained with the club 3 x per week plus one speed session with super vet Steve James.
An example week in March 1999 was something like this:
Mon
Club run 6 miles, pretty much a progression run.
Tue
club run 7 x about 800m fast [5.10 pace]
Wed
Easy run over the sandhills = 1.30
Thur
fartleck pinewood session with Steve, 5 x mile and half loop with 4 efforts per lap and steady running between.
Fri Rest
Sat
1 hour sandhills with 6 x strides
Sun club run pinewoods up to 3 hours.
2 weeks before London I smashed my P.B. over 10k with a 35.14 things were looking good!
My body weight was over 12.5 stone, I use to do some very heavy weight training back then and was very strong but not really a Marathon runners build!

Anyway back to the Friday before the race, I'd messed up a bit and not managed to get the night off work.

End result I only got 2 hours in bed before we had to get up to catch the train on Sat.
Saturday was a busy day, catch the train to London, drop the bags off at the hotel then more trains to the Expo to race numbers etc.
Back at the hotel my then crazy girl friend had a tantrum over something really stupid and I ended sleeping on the floor of my team mates room with one thin blanket.
I had a completely sleepless night as I was too cold to get to sleep!

Race Morning

I eat my breakfast nervelessly contemplating the 26 miles ahead!
I was even more nervous on the train to the start.

The Longest Hour

Waiting for the start was torturous, negative thought kept flashing before my mind!

At last the start!

I remembered what 2.45 Marathon runner Tim Marshal had told me, "Hold back for the first 2 miles then get into a rhythm".
The nerves left me as I left the line, Wow I was in the London Marathon!!!

Mile One

Just on 7 min mil pace, after that my speed increased on the downhill to around 6.25.
The crowds, the live music and the whole atmosphere was just amazing.
It was like someone had injected me with a massive dose of Adrenaline!
I was buzzing!

Six Miles

I decided running at a steady 6.25 was getting a bit boring!
So for some strange reason I started running alternating fast miles (6.00 pace) with slow miles (7.00 pace).
This madness felt like fun, like a giant mile rep session!
Concentrating on one mile at a time seemed to work for me, my legs enjoyed the fast mile and the slow mile felt like jogging!

HALF WAY

I was now going into no man,s land, I'd never raced more than a half before, but I felt great as I ran through 13.1 miles under 83 mins.
Around 17 miles I rocketed passed team mate Mark Ashby (I was on one of my fast miles) I think he took a double take at me as I flew passed, I had a massive smile on my face as wide as the Thames!

THE WALL

I'd been told about this but did not really fear it!
By 20 miles my quads and calves were starting to scream at my in pain, I decided it was time to ditch the fast mile- low mile routine and run more steady!

Feeding off the crowd!

Yes my legs were hurting ( all my long runs had been on the sand and were not used to the hard pounding of the road] but I still had lots of energy left.
I started shouting at the crowds each time I went round a corner" Come on give us a hand we have just run 20 miles!"

There was an amazing ripple of clapping and cheering, wow this was like being at the center of a massive carnival!

Each mile got harder and more painful, yet I had more confidence and pride than ever before.

The Finish Line

At last I turned for Buck House and managed a final sprint to the line 2.49.53!
I was totally wired, Yes I did it!!!
I know I will never feel or experience anything so amazing again!
this was 'THE RACE'!

Now read about someone who did even better than me in his first London Marathon by running a super fast time.

Well worth checking this out!

Researcher Alan Watt features in this exclusive interview for Prison
Planet.tv members, in which he discusses how the same laws are enacted
at the same time across different countries under the structure of
global governance. Watt explains in detail how the people of the world
are moved around by the elite like a domesticated herd of animals by a
series of contrived crises and "revolutions," be they cultural,
political, sexual or musical, so that the controllers can manipulate
human behavior to the outcome they require.

Watt reveals how the
population are kept in a constant state of panic and terror, so that
authority figures who speak with confidence are then more willingly
trusted, using psychological "shock and awe" to generate fear and
helplessness by bombarding the population with a myriad of different
threats that they cannot personally cope with, and so turn to the state
for reassurance and leadership.

In this fascinating in-depth
exploration of the human psyche, Watt discusses how this helplessness is
artificially steam-valved through the use of sports, where men are
given a tribal team that they can identify with and cheer on, providing
them with some sense of success in their own personal lives when in the
real world they're going nowhere, and sports are merely a substitute to
keep them distracted from their own enslavement.

Watt explains
how women were given high fashion at accessible prices as a similar form
of substitute, and how drugs, sex, free love hyper promiscuity and
destructive lifestyles were also encouraged through music as a means of
misdirecting the natural rebellious tendencies of youth. The ultimate
goal of this process is to demolish the family unit - divide and conquer
so that humanity may be more easily ruled and oppressed by the state as
vulnerable individuals, with no family tribe to stand up and defend
them.

Alan Watt continues to divulge his fascinating in-depth
insights into how culture is created from the top down and used by the
elite to manipulate and pervert natural human instincts towards their
own ends. Every change in culture, right down to fashion and music,
points out Watt citing Plato, had to be authorized and promoted from the
top. This science of mass mind control is still taught today by the
insiders and mediums such as television are used as weapons of social
control to prevent humanity from ever realizing its full potential.

Watt
talks about how the elite technocrats plan for the long term, in 50,
100 and even 150 year cycles in which to implement the different aspects
of their agenda, and how each cultural shift was deliberately timed to
be implemented at a certain time. The current cultural bombardment
surrounds the emergence of neo-eugenics, with big foundations and
organizations like the Optimum Population Trust pushing the idea that
humans are superfluous, virus-like, and therefore worthless.

Watt
discusses how sperm counts across Europe and America have dropped at an
alarming rate of up to 80 per cent over the past 50 years, and how the
media's complete ignorance of this crisis proves that it was authorized
as a deliberate program of de-population. Watt traces the program back
to its origins in the 1950's, where synthetic female hormones like
estrogen were put in baby foods by companies like Proctor and Gamble, as
well as baby milk bottles washed with Bisphenol A, the very substance
that attacks male genitalia and prevents it from developing properly.
Watt also outlines how Bisphenol A in women's cosmetic products
contributes to toxifying their bodies, leading to an environment for
male babies that leads them to have a reduced sperm count or even become
sterile.The foundation of the agenda can be discovered in the writings
of people like Bertrand Russell and the Huxley brothers, who talked
about the need to sterilize the masses as far back as the 1930's.

Watt
also divulges how the elite's ultimate goal for every human allowed to
be born is for them to serve the state and be deceived into accepting
this enslavement as a natural form of existence. The elite's greatest
fear is that the "inferiors" will out-breed the "superiors," which is
why they continually push neo-eugenics and are obsessed with
inter-breeding to keep their own genetics intellectually pure.'

Sunday, 15 April 2012

Had a good run over the big sandhills with Tess, equaling my best average pace achieved just before I got injured.
Wednesdays 5K race went OK I was still a little hesitant to push all out so the plan was to aim at a good tempo effort.
I finished relieved that nothing broke and i can now go on with some confidence!
One problem I do have is excess weight about 10LB!
This will have to go, with a bit of luck some slightly more intensive sessions will melt the fat and added muscle away!
One annoying thing about running is that when you get really fit the average population think you look unwell and gnarly!
But when your a bit fatter people think like your looking good!
Oh well, expect me to be looking gnarly again in the near future:]
Training
Sun
Sandhill 6 with Sarah,Jon and Tess = 1.20
Sat
Big Sandhills with Tess = 1.40
Friu
Core training
Thur
Velvet trail and 6 x 20 sec strides on grass = 1.00
Wed
rubbish 5K (tempo effort) =19.22
Tue
core training
Mon Big sandhills and 6 x 20 sec strides = 1.30

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

I think this is a great exercise for all runners to do.
It should help improve your stability, range of motion and power and strength.
End result run faster with less pain and injury :0]
why not give it a go and see if it can help you!

I asked Doctor Steve how many reps and sets should one start at and build up to?

As long as you hold good form and can still nail a good 360
degree core breath without your shoulders raising up and down...work up
to a set of 12 reps, then 8 reps, then 4 reps each﻿ side (descending
pyramid). Once you can do that...you need to add more weight or
challenging variations. Start with a goal of 5 good ones and go from
there.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

What can a say but please watch this film.it should be screened on every TV channelAt every school1In every home! It's the best education you may ever get!'UNDERSTAND WHY THIS WORLD IS SO FUCKING SCREWED UP'! AND HOW MOST IMPORTANTLY, LEARN HOW THINGS CAN BE PUT RIGHT!CHEERS

The Rubbish 5K returns with a special edition on 11th April at 7.00pm hosted by Steve McLean

THE RUBBISH 5K SERIES

For The 4th Year Running And All For FREE

Thanks to Steve McLean and the local council, The Forestry Commission agreed to fund the installment of new route marker posts for the Rubbish 5K route.READ STORY HERE

This will be the official-unofficial new opening of the route.
Over four years ago Storming Norman persuaded me that Southport needed a new Event.
So with the help of Jon and Brian we devised a two lap route round the reclaimed rubbish tip.
Mostly on gravel trails with some short steep hills and tight turns it makes for a challenging event.
The event has become increasingly popular with local runners and in winter 2010 Andy Hudson introduced a winter series on the same course called the Torchlite Tip 5K

Rubbish 5K

We bring this series to you completely FREE for your enjoyment and open to all ages and abilities.
My thanks go out to everyone who has helped me organize this event over the last 3 years.

Friday, 6 April 2012

I do not say this lightly, but my father joined the RAF at a very young age and risked his own life to help defeat Hitler and keep freedom for us all!Yet now it is plain to see that history is repeating itself!Please watch and contemplate!

Thursday, 5 April 2012

The government has just announced its new plan to spy on us all, to be pushed through “as soon as Parliamentary time allows”. They want to see who we call, text and email, and which websites we visit - without any kind of warrant or reason.

I've just signed a petition against these plans. Can you add your name?

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Yes today was a good day!The sun shone down bright and the slight chill in the air awakened my senses and made me feel alive.Back to wearing my New Balance 101's, my legs turned over at a fast clip and my feet hardly seemed to touch the ground.I was only on an easy run over the Velvet Trail but it was a magical feeling of freedom that I come back to find time after time.Now only If I could run like Kilian, that would be true ascension to a higher dimension!Training week 3SunVelvet Trail with Tess = 40 minsSatBig sandhills steady with Tess plus 6 x 20 sec strides on grass = 1.37Fricore trainingThurStrides plus easy run over the sand dune tops =1.34Wedbig sand dunes with middle 4 miles at tempo pace = 1'32TueCore trainingMonKenyan hill session = 1.00